


Like Mother, Like Daughter

by RoSholl



Series: Sweetest Devotion [3]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, mallory press-heath, re-inc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 09:06:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23348890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoSholl/pseuds/RoSholl
Summary: Another day in the lives of Tobin and Christen Press-Heath, and their 3 year old daughter Mallory Press-Heath. When Mal gets into her mothers' clothes and inspiration strikes, re-inc works on their first ever kids line and Mal helps them create it.
Relationships: Tobin Heath/Christen Press
Series: Sweetest Devotion [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1669210
Comments: 12
Kudos: 178





	Like Mother, Like Daughter

It happened by accident, really.

One day, just as Christen was wondering why her three year old daughter was suspiciously quiet, Mal came charging down the hall, almost tripping over the fabric falling past her knees as she dove onto the couch next to where her Mama sat.

Christen had laughed at her daughter’s actions, looking up from her book before doing a double take at what was different about Mal.

“What are you wearing?”

“Mama’s clothes!” Mal wore a beaming proud smile, standing up on the couch and lifting her arms up. Draped over her body, and far too big for her, was a re-inc hoodie, an old one from their fifth collection years ago. It was a favorite of Christen’s, though Tobin seemed to steal it and wear it more than she did.

It seemed like their daughter took after her Mommy in that regard.

“You are wearing Mama’s clothes. Did you go into Mommies’ closet?”

“ _Maybe_.” Mal dragged out the word, a cheeky smile on her face.

“I think you did!” Christen said, putting her book down and edging closer to her daughter, hands out, making Mal laugh and squeal in anticipation of the tickle fest she knew was coming. “I think you did!”

Mal’s laughter reverberated around the room, around the house, as Christen pulled her onto her lap, tickling her.

“Are you my cheeky little baby girl?”

“No!” Mal laughed harder as Christen blew a little raspberry on her cheek.

“Are you sure? I think you are!” Christen left little kisses all over Mal’s face, eventually letting up and hugging the girl close to her. “I love you.”

“I love Mama.”

“What’s all this fun going on without me?” Tobin came into the room, crashing down next to her two girls and making them both laugh. “Baby, are you wearing Mama’s clothes?”

“Baby Mal wearing rink!”

Tobin laughed, pulling Mal up to stand in her lap as she looked at her. Sometimes Mal referred to herself in the third person, and Christen and Tobin’s hearts always squeezed so tight when she called herself ‘Baby Mal.’ “You are wearing re-inc, that’s right. It’s a shame it doesn’t fit properly. A little hoodie would look so cute on her.”

It was like a lightbulb went off in Christen’s head. She turned to her wife, a knowing smile on her face. “It _is_ a shame. Lucky we know the founders that could change that.”

\---------------------------------------------

It happened by accident.

It then turned into Christen sending a photo of Mal in the oversized hoodie to the re-inc team, tossing out the possibility of a kid’s line.

It snowballed pretty fast after that, everyone jumping on board eagerly, thinking how great of an idea it was.

As usual, Tobin lead the charge on the design. This one was one of the most special, as she could draw inspiration from the most important little girl in her life. She thought about what Mal loved to wear, what was freeing for her, what didn’t restrict her.

It was easily translated into an adults line as well, and pretty soon, the first prototypes were done.

“Aunty Pio!” Mal screeched as she raced across the studio floor, barreling straight into Pinoe’s open arms and laughing in delight as she was spun around, getting lots and lots of cheek kisses in the process.

The crew and re-inc team around them laughed, all of them awing at the sight. Mal had the same ecstatic reaction when she saw Kling, and all the other re-inc team she recognized. It was really easy to love this kid, she had so much of it to give everyone else.

“These are amazing.” Christen gushed later, as they all stood around examining the prototypes for the latest drop. “Oh my gosh, look how _cute_ this is!”

Tobin grinned as she looked at the little hoodie Christen was holding up, loving seeing her creations come to life. The top pieces were tie dyed, the bottoms block colored, something fun and light and nostalgic to childhood.

“Mal, baby, can you come here?” Tobin asked, seeing Mal run over to her. “Do you want to put this on?”

“It’s lellow!” Mal pointed out to everyone around her, the little splashes of yellow being seen along with the other colors. It was Mal’s favorite of late, and she was _very_ excited about it.

“It is, that’s right!” Christen smiled, pulling the hoodie over Mal’s head. She brushed the hair out of her face, pulling her French braids out from under the hood and stood back to see how it looked.

“If there wasn’t a three year old in the room I would totally say how effing cool that looked.” Pinoe said quietly enough for Mal to miss, making everyone around laugh.

Christen then pulled the adult hoodie over her own head, her braids falling over her shoulders as well. She and Mal looked at each other, grinning.

“Mama and Mal same!”

“We are the same, baby girl, that’s right. We’re matching!”

“ ’Atching!” Mal did a little happy dance, Tobin not being able to resist pulling out her phone and videoing the interaction.

They weren’t planning on doing the proper photo shoot that day, these only being the prototypes, but their photographer was there anyways, wanting to take some shots so she could get inspiration for the final shoot when the products were completed.

Christen had a conversation with the photographer, then crouched down in front of her daughter, putting her hands on her waist. “Hey, baby girl. Do you want to take some photos with Mama?”

She was curious to see how Mal would react to the question, knowing that the energetic little girl never had a problem being in front of the camera around people she knew, but knowing she could get shy and take a while to come out of her shell as well.

Mal nodded easily to her, happy to be picked up by her Mama and taken over to the wall of the studio where the photos would be. Christen watched her daughter watch the rest of the people there curiously, looking at those setting up the lights and those fiddling with cameras and those taking notes on the side.

She knew it would happen before it did, knew the tell-tale sign of Mal’s eye widening slightly and her cheeks blushing red. Then, sure enough, Mal’s head buried in her hoodie, her hands wrapping tightly around her neck.

“It’s okay, baby girl.” Christen spoke gentle murmurs as she rubbed Mal’s back, walking around with her a bit while everyone still got set up. “I’m here, Mama’s right here.”

Mal stayed contently buried in Christen, happy to have her mother’s comforts wash over her. She peeked to have a look at everyone every now and again, sometimes catching the eye of one of the staff members, or someone she recognized, and giggling slightly. When things were set up, Christen kissed the top of Mal’s head, murmuring to her again.

“We don’t have to take any photos if you don’t want to.”

Mal seemed to consider this for a second, before whispering back. “Mommy have photo too?”

A laugh burst out of Christen, and she made eyes with her wife who had been talking to Pinoe and Kling to the side this whole time. “Tobin, come over here and take a photo with your daughter, she’s worried you’re missing out.”

Like the happiest puppy, Tobin bounded over to them, a grin plastered on her face. “What do you mean my daughter? I can’t see her at all, where has she gone?”

The most beautiful sound of Mal’s laughter filled the room, the three year old lifting her head out of Christen’s chest and looking over at Tobin. “Mommy, I’m here!”

“Oh my goodness!” Tobin pretended to be surprised, holding out her arms for Mal to jump into as she spun the girl around, planting kisses all over her face. “There you are! I found you!”

Mal laughed in delight, her face scrunched up from smiling at Tobin’s actions.

“So you want your old Mom in the photo too, do you?” Tobin put Mal on her hip, standing beside her wife.

“Mommy old!”

Christen and the others around burst into laughter at Mal’s statement. She watched the pout form on Tobin’s face and she laughed more, leaning over and kissing her. “Hey, you said it, babe.”

“Yeah, yeah, Mommy’s going to eat you up for dinner if you’re not careful.” Tobin spoke in a mischievous voice to Mal, kissing her cheeks as her daughter squealed in laughter again.

Eventually, they all settled down enough to come together to take a few photos. Quite quickly in, the photographer had the rapport built with Mal for Tobin to be allowed to sneak out, standing on the sides to watch her daughter and wife do their thing.

She physically clutched her chest when she saw Mal’s big eyes look up to Christen, the wide smile on her face as she copied everything her idol did. Every which way Christen moved, Mal followed, posing like her, laughing like her, smiling like her.

Tobin could have never thought she’d get so lucky to have a family this beautiful.

She heard Pinoe in the background moving about, before music flowed through the speakers of the studio. If Mal’s eyes weren’t already alight at what was going on, they were as soon as she heard the song.

Both Tobin and Christen groaned, and Mal jumped up and down, cheering in delight.

“Aunty Pio it’s Move It Move It!” Mal jumped around, dancing, as Christen watched on in amusement.

It’s not that Tobin and Christen hated the song. It was a perfectly good song for the movie it was made for, which was _years_ ago. It’s that Mal had come home after being babysat by Pinoe one night and had requested to do _nothing_ else but listen to I Like to Move It Move It for an entire week. Tobin’s pretty sure it was ingrained into her brain forever. She would pay big money to never hear it again.

Of course, when Pinoe found out about that she played it for Mal every chance she got, a cheeky grin on her face all the while. Tobin resisted the urge to flip her off, instead turning back to Christen and Mal.

“Mama, dance!” Mal grabbed Christen’s hands, jumping up and down.

Now, Christen may have despised this song. But she would never turn down the chance to dance with her daughter. She jumped around with her, laughing her head off, the photographer snapping shots all the while.

“I’ll get you for this, P!” Christen yelled out, only to hear Pinoe cackle in response. Tobin looked behind her to see her filming the whole thing, and she shook her head in laughter.

Their friends were actual idiots.

\----------------------------------------

Tobin loved everything about re-inc. But her favorite part had come to be the art that was associated with each clothing line they dropped. She had a feeling this one would be her best one yet.

“Chris, are you sure you don’t want in?” Tobin had asked, a paintbrush in her hand.

Christen had to hold in her laughter, looking at the complete goofballs that her wife and daughter were. Tobin and Mal were dressed in very old clothes, their hair wrapped under old knit caps, paint cans of all colors surrounding their feet. The room they were in had the walls completely covered in protective sheets, the only thing left exposed was a giant white canvas.

“No, this is your thing with Mal. I took the photos with her, you do the art with her.”

Tobin grinned, turning down to her daughter. “You ready to do this, baby?”

“Yes!” Mal basically screamed, jumping up and down in excitement.

Christen turned the camera on that would film the process then went to stand in the very back corner of the room out of paints way to take photos of them.

“Okay! So we’re just going to get a paintbrush, dip it in any color you want, and fling it at the canvas.” She demonstrated for Mal, dipping the brush in the blue before doing exactly that. Mal laughed in delight, watching her Mommy for a while, before she crouched down to the paint.

Before Tobin knew what was happening, Mal dropped the paintbrush, instead shoving her whole right hand in one of the cans. She then tossed the yellow paint that had come out onto the canvas.

“No, n –” Tobin had started to tell her daughter no, before she saw actually how effective and cool what Mal had done was. She knelt down on the ground, getting eye level with Mal. “Actually, that’s a really great idea, baby! You’re so clever.”

Mal giggled, then shrugged like it was obvious. “Mommy we throwing paint.”

“We are throwing paint.” Tobin nodded slowly, loving her daughter more and more each second until her heart might burst. Their canvas was to represent the colorful tie dye collection they were releasing. Since it was their first kids line, Tobin wanted to involve Mal in the painting.

She’d intended to use paintbrushes to splatter paint on the board, but of course, Mal totally derailed her, and always in the best ways, like she’d done since the day she was born. Mal saw they were throwing paint, so she used her hands to do exactly that. She didn’t think about what effect might be best from the paintbrush, or where to place the flicks, she just did it. With childlike abandon. And that was _exactly_ what Tobin wanted most.

Tobin hoped she never stopped learning from her daughter. “I love you, baby. You’re so special.”

“Love Mommy too! And love Mama!” Mal turned to Christen, waving a yellow painted hand, never one to leave any of her mothers out.

“I love you too, baby girl.”

“Now, are we throwing paint, or what?” Tobin dropped her own paintbrush, cupping her hand through the pink paint and throwing it out onto the canvas, watching it splatter over it in the coolest way.

“Yay!” Mal screamed again, dipping her hands back into the paint and flinging and tossing it every which way.

It was one of Christen’s new favorite memories. Seeing how their daughter could teach them about joy instead of perfection, seeing Tobin being so soft with Mal, seeing both of them almost crying with laughter as they worked together, getting just as much paint on themselves as the canvas.

When it was done, they both stepped back, looking at the final product. It was their favorite one yet. Sure, anyone could toss paint at a canvas. But most others would try and make the accidental tosses look perfect. This one was messy and bright, splatters on splatters, colors flung everywhere. It was beautiful, just like their daughter.

Tobin didn’t want to sell this one. She wanted to keep it forever.

“What do you think, baby?”

“I LOVE it!” Mal jumped up and down, a huge smile on her face. Tobin held out her hand for her daughter, watching the paint splatter as she gave her a high five, and got an idea.

“Hey, there’s one more thing, actually.” Tobin crouched down in front of Mal, watching her look at her curiously. “We have to sign it!”

“Sigh it?”

“Sign it, baby. You know how Mommy writes her names on paintings when they’re done? Well, you and I have to do that to this one. Only, I thought since our hands are already covered in paint, we could just do this instead.” Tobin reached over to the bottom right of the canvas, pressing her handprint on it and watching the colors mix together.

Mal smiled, nodding at Tobin. “Mommy help?” She reached out her hand to Tobin, who took her gently by the wrist and guided her handprint right over the top of hers, the little one and the big one under it mixing together perfectly.

When it was done, Mal jumped into Tobin’s arms, getting more paint on the both of them. Tobin kissed the parts of her face that didn’t have paint on them. “Are you our little artist?”

“Baby Mal arsist!”

Tobin could have almost cried with the love she felt for her daughter that afternoon. She looked up to her wife and saw Christen wore the same expression. Tobin held Mal for a bit longer, before whispering conspiratorially in her ear. “I think Mama wants a hug.”

Christen barely had time to stop them before Mal came racing over, yelling ‘Mama hug!’ as she jumped into her arms, Tobin wrapping her arms around her both. Christen pretended to groan at them getting paint all over her too, but in reality, there was nowhere else she’d rather be than wrapped up with her loves.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you again all so much for your wonderful comments. I get a lot of inspiration for future chapters from them, so keep them coming if you'd like to see more! This chapter was inspired by a comment one of you left last time, so I really enjoy getting them!
> 
> I hope you're all staying safe out there.


End file.
